


All I Want (Is Silence)

by akire_yta



Series: prompt ficlets [376]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 20:05:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8767315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: from the advent calendar meme preludeinz wanted #3:  3. You made me a Christmas playlist but it’s just Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you”. I can’t tell if you’re hitting on me or if it’s a joke.





	

“I am going to make you suffer for this,” John said, with actual, real agony showing on his face.  “I am going to wait, and bide my time, and in ten years, when you have forgotten this day, I will strike and return this _very kind_ favour.”

Penny beamed, bright spots of colour high on her cheeks.  The small fire crackled in the fireplace, tea for two laid out and waiting for them on the low table before the loveseat.  They sat, side by side, so close as to be touching at knees and hips and shoulders.  The music filled the room.

She leaned in close enough that her long, loose hair brushed down his arm.  “I’m looking forward to that,” she all but purred.  The act shattered, and she sat back with a laugh that was too-raucous for the Lady who she was with nearly everyone else.

John reached for his teacup, wrapping his fingers around the delicate china, soaking up the warmth.  Their day in the snow had been fun, but the cold had driven them inside, and John had always been slow to warm.  “Have I mentioned how much I hate, loathe, and despise this song?” he asked.

Penny beamed and dropped a macaroon on the side of his saucer.  “Repeatedly.  Vehemently.  I believe it was even your chosen topic of the Oxford moot last year.”

John bit down vindictively into his cookie.  “I gave you ideas, didn’t I?”

She patted the back of his wrist.  “I already knew this big secret,” she confided.

The speakers over on the bookshelf briefly fell silent, and John prayed to gods he didn’t believe in for a reprieve that he knew wasn’t coming.  A second later, the song started up again.  John’s teacup landed on the table with a clatter.  “Why, Penny?  What have I done that is so bad as to be worth _this_?”

Penny sat back, nudging his ankle with her foot until he slumped back into her. Their bodies drew a vee as they gently rested their foreheads together.  “I do this, darling,” Penny said softly.  “Because it is delightful to see you have any reaction above mild indifference or scientific curiousity.”

John closed his eyes, and this close, Penny could count every long lash.  “Have you heard of negative conditioning, Pen?”

She chuckled and pecked a kiss to his nose before turning away to sip her tea.  “Oh, don’t be so dramatic.”

John grabbed two cushions and clamped them over his ears with a groan.

 * * *

“Oh don’t be so dramatic,” John said, blue hologram wavering as Penny threw her pillow right through the field.  He reformed, already laughing. “I warned you,” he added, sounding like an omen.  “I warned you and you did it anyway. It has now been ten year, Penny.  Well, ten years and a few hours.  Two am just calls out for Christmas songs, doesn’t it?”

“You are a foul beast and I am going to murder you even if I have to climb up there on a rope,” Penny spat.  She’d been up searching for an hour; her hair was a mess and her room was utterly destroyed, and still she was no closer to finding the source.  “Why?”

“Because this, Penny?”  He leaned closer to his camera.  “Is payback.  Sleep well.”  He blinked out.

Penny scowled and thumped the holocomm controls, but John’s barely used hold signal flashed up and mocked her with its silence.  Penny muttered several unflattering endearments and resumed her search for the source of that blasted song.


End file.
